Tag: American Essence

Gen. Samuel Curtis Chronicled in First Written Biography

Samuel Ryan Curtis was one of the North’s most successful generals during the American Civil War. He never lost a battle and was the victor at several key battles, including Pea Ridge. He commanded Union forces in the Trans-Mississippi and negotiated peace with the Sioux late in the war. A nationally-known civil engineer before the…


Former Miss Florida Turned Equestrian Jeweler Shares Her Love for Art and Philanthropy

Silver-set moonstones and more than 30,000 Swarovski crystals, placed one by one onto a hand-drawn design—those were the jewels that started it all. They adorned the pageant gown Karina Brez wore when she was crowned Miss Florida USA in 2012, which she designed and made with the help of her family, including her master jeweler…


Book Review: ‘The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention That Changed History’

My grandfather on my mother’s side was a self-taught lawyer. His jurisprudence was practiced in Socorro, New Mexico in the late 1800s. Some of my relatives say that he lobbied for statehood, though that effort didn’t succeed in New Mexico until 1912. It was more than 50 years earlier, in 1860, that another self-taught lawyer…


Profiles in History: Missy LeHand: FDR’s ‘Right Hand Woman’

Marguerite “Missy” LeHand (1898–1944) was born to an Irish family in Potsdam, New York. During her childhood the family moved to Massachusetts, settling into the small working-class town of Somerville just outside of Boston. It was here that she contracted rheumatic fever at the age of 15. She was lucky to survive the illness, as…


The Golden Age of Country Music

While country music of the 1940s was known for its honky-tonk ditties perfect for two-stepping, the 1950s ushered in a more polished, story-driven approach to the genre. This transformation paved the way for a new kind of country, a style focused on relatable, poignant cowboy tales and classic romance pieces. The genre’s modernized songwriting focus…


Red Flags, Bright Hopes: Four Presidential Farewell Addresses

In his article “Presidential Farewell Addresses,” Gleaves Whitney notes that before Harry Truman only three presidents had composed formal farewell addresses to the nation. As Whitney tells us, three factors likely account for this circumstance. First, some of the early chief executives held George Washington and his farewell address in such esteem that they deemed…


Horace Mann Pioneers Change in the American Education System

Although Horace Mann grew up poor and without a solid means of education, he went on to become a pioneer that would change the way Americans received education for centuries to come. In fact, Mann was a lawyer, politician, and educator who had many beliefs and ideals that were well ahead of his time. His…


Book Review: ‘The Madman in the White House: Sigmund Freud, Ambassador Bullitt, and the Lost Psychobiography of Woodrow Wilson’

Woodrow Wilson was possibly the most consequential president of the 20th century. His presidency has alternatingly been praised and condemned throughout the century since he left office in 1921. Wilson has been looked upon through an almost bipolarized lens as a man of dignity, integrity, wisdom, brilliance, pride, condescension, unconstitutional perspective, and self-destruction. Woodrow Wilson…


‘Sweet Kitty Wells’: Soulful Country Ballads and Downhome, Southern Cooking

One of country music’s brightest stars, Kitty Wells amassed 64 top 40 hits during her tenure performing from 1936 to 2000. Getting her start by recording gospel music with her husband Johnnie Wright throughout the ’30s and ’40s, her 1952 breakout hit “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” ushered her forward to become…


Highway of Dreams: Adventures Along the Pacific Coast Highway

In the big cities and small towns across America, young and old alike daydream of cruising the curvaceous coast of California on charismatic Highway 1. There are breathtaking stretches etched between sheer cliffs and surging sea wind, from crystalline coves to redwood groves and from Los Angeles city lights to San Francisco heights. Along the…